'Why is the town tearing down a heritage building?' Stouffville historian questions town's purchase

Yorkregion.com
Jan. 25, 2022

“Why the hell is the town tearing down a heritage building?”

Stouffville historian and heritage advocate Fred Robbins could hardly hide his dismay at the town’s purchase of 6343 Main Street and the stated intent to remove the home and create a larger civic square.

Whitchurch-Stouffville council approved the $1.089 million purchase with a unanimous vote at a council meeting on Jan. 4. The closing date is March 2, 2022.

“This is a very unique opportunity that we couldn’t pass up,” Stouffville Mayor Iain Lovatt said at the time. “Expanding urban parkland and green space in the heart of our downtown core is not an opportunity that comes up every day. We are very excited to see how Civic Square will be transformed with this addition.”

The property is east of the clock tower and Civic Square and is currently zoned commercial. However, according to their press release, the town intends to remove the buildings to create a more pedestrian square.

Robbins said that the problem with the town’s plan to remove the home is that it is one of the oldest homes on Main Street.

It was the first home in Stouffville with red brick and was built in the 1850s pre-Confederation. “The bricks were locally made likely by hand as we had no brickyards that early,” Robbins said.

He said that the portion of the building that faces Main Street was a harness shop and one of the earliest businesses on the road.

Robbins also points out that the town is amid a heritage conservation district study along Main Street and the surrounding area from Ninth Line to Tenth Line. He says the town’s intention to remove the building on 6343 Main Street flies in the face of the preserving heritage in the downtown “just doesn’t jive.”

For years Robbins worked on the town’s heritage advisory committee and was frustrated with the lack of protections for heritage buildings. “In Markham, when a developer walks into the planning department, they know they have to have a plan for heritage,” he said. “(But) when they walk into Stouffville, it’s the wild wild west.”

Although the press release from the town said the intent was to remove the home on 6343 Main Street, council members said that decision hadn’t been made yet.

Ward 6 Coun. Sue Sherban said it remains to be seen what happens with the building and whether it is retainable.

Even so, she fully supports the decision to purchase the property.

Sherban said she fought hard years ago not to demolish or sell the old town hall, now known as 19 on the Park, an arts centre.

“It’s important for us to have ownership and be visible in downtown,” she said. “It would be naive not to invest in the downtown.”

Ward 4 Coun. Rick Upton said council is waiting for the consultant report on the property before taking the next step. “We hoped it would be an extension of the town square for the people,” he said.

While Ward 3 Coun. Hugo Kroon understands how Robbins could think the town is speaking out of both sides of its mouth on heritage; he said the ongoing heritage conservation district study could change how things are done in Stouffville.

“I always have been a little disappointed that the heritage committee didn’t have the teeth and legislative backing that it needed,” he said.

Kroon lives in a heritage home himself circa 1884. “I appreciate the beauty of these things,” he said.

Kroon said that a conservation district would give homeowners peace of mind that the property next to them wouldn’t build a giant glass and steel monstrosity.

Last month, the town held a virtual public meeting to discuss a potential conservation district. A report about the heritage conservation district is expected within the next few months.